After U.S. soldiers attack twelve-year-old Tsatsi’s Cherokee village, his family flees to the Smokey Mountains. Facing storms, flood, and hunger, they’re forced to go where Stone Man, a monstrous giant, is rumored to live.

His family seeks shelter in an abandoned village, but soldiers hunt them down. Tsatsi and his sister Sali escape, but Sali falls ill and is kidnapped by Stone Man. Tsatsi gives chase and confronts the giant, only to learn this monster isn’t what he seems.

Their journey is a dangerous one. Will Tsatsi find the strength to become a Cherokee warrior? And will they ever find their family?

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Conspiracy buffs claim that Minoans sailed from the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea to the New World about 3,000 years ago. They even got as far as Kentucky and Tennessee. Interesting, but there were bunches of Indians around, my ancestors some of them. The artifacts are a little hard to prove, but I would be more impressed if the writing could be translated. (the Minoans’ language remains a mystery) Others have found a statistical similarity between the mitochondrial DNA (maternal DNA) between ancient Minoans and certain Indian tribes, especially the Cherokee. Let’s wait and see, but there are other reasons for the DNA.

One photo is of a supposed Minoan artifact from Drake Mound, Fayette County, Kentucky. The other photo is possible Minoan writing on the Bat Creek Stone, Loudon County, Tennessee. Judge for yourself—I remain the skeptic. (But I might have fun writing about it)

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Chief Redbird, Totsuwha,Ꮩ Ꮷ Ꮹ, was the last Kentucky Chief of the Chickamauga Cherokees. He was born August 21, 1721 in Tellico, Cherokee Nation. He and another Cherokee, Will, were murdered around 1796 by two white men from Tennessee (some sources claim a later date) in Clay County Kentucky. His body was dumped into Redbird Creek, named in his honor. He has had many places named after him. The Kentucky State Bird is the Cardinal. I wonder if it is named in his honor. Some of my family comes from the Kentucky Cherokees. (some sources have his English name as Aaron Brock)

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Under the full moon, they make trades, but what are they trading? Weapons of war? My heart does ache. In the shadows, they become friends, but is it the friendship of peacemakers or warriors? I fear for the future.

Tonight, is the Cherokee Trading Moon, Nudadaequa, ᏄᏓᏓᎡᏆ, where people gathered from afar to trade. It is also the time of the Friendship Festival, Adohuna, ᎠᏙᎱᎾ, where friendship was made or renewed.

Take care, my friends.

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The Cherokee Nation Remembrance Day is today, March 24. On this date in 1839, 179 years ago, the final detachment of the Trail of Tears reached Tahlequah, Oklahoma. This is part of the Native American Holocaust. Never forget, never again.

During the Trail of Tears, my great-great grandfather, William Pennington, and his parents left their Cherokee village. They journeyed north and lived with a group of Shawnee Metis.

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It is believed the sunchoke (AKA Jerusalem artichoke, but it is not an artichoke or from Jerusalem) was a main food source for Cherokee people prior to European contact. Though it is a sunflower relative, the tubers are eaten. I have never tried any, but they can be cooked like potatoes or eaten raw.